Name change during Naturalization


ramkykv

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Hello,  Me and family (wife, daughter) are eligible for US Citizenship. All three of us have long south Indian names with different last names.  During the naturalization process, I am thinking of going for a name change for all of us and make it short and have same last name.  I am worried about the process and complexity of going in for such a name change.. Will it cause an long delay my citizenship process? What other consequences of this name change?  Any other impacts ?

 

Also, my daughter is not 18 yet, her citizenship will be based on me and my wife's citizenship.. will it impact her because of our name change ? 

 

Any inputs/advice much appreciated.

 

Ramakrishnan KV

 

 

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Name change during naturalization is very easy.

You just specify that you want the name change on the N-400, and you provide the new name there...

 

In some jurisdictions this isn't possible, because of the legalities of name changes:

A name change can only be done by a court. Most naturalization ceremonies double as a court session. Some USCIS districts, e.g., San Francisco, only have administrative oath ceremonies, without a court session, so in such districts, name changes as part of the naturalization isn't possible.

 

In the "normal" naturalization ceremonies, you get the naturalization certificate with the new name, and you get a court document showing that you changed your name. You need that to change the name on your DL, and social security card, for example.

That's all there is to it.

 

Name changes outside of naturalization require advertising the name change, and then getting a court order.

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during naturalization specifically during the oath ceremony, you can request court to change name. It is similar to asking name change to a court at any other time.

There is a faq on uscis website that answers this question.

Actually from the date of oath taking you are USC; so there is no further delay. If you are talking about getting citizenship letter and US passport that may take some time (but name change will not delay it).

The procedure is still kind of complicated as you need to manually change name in different places  (ss card, license, employer and so on). You also need to change name in India by giving some form of advertisement otherwise it may delay the process of obtaining visa to enter India.

Name change is name change and there is nothing special about it if you do it at the time of naturalization; you will face the same amount of complexity at any different time too.

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Name change is name change and there is nothing special about it if you do it at the time of naturalization; you will face the same amount of complexity at any different time too.

You also need to change name in India by giving some form of advertisement otherwise it may delay the process of obtaining visa to enter India.

Now, why would that be?

Why would some other country care about a name change if the person is not even a citizen of that country anymore.

This may be an issue with countries that allow dual citizenship, but India doesn't belong to that group of countries.

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Why would some other country care about a name change if the person is not even a citizen of that country anymore.

 

simple fact...background check before issuing a visa..

 

DHS missed redflags of boston bomber's file due to a spelling mistake.. imagine if nobody cares about previous names at all?

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 can't show the citizenship surrender certificate in one name and apply for visa in a different name.

 

 

 You also need to change name in India by giving some form of advertisement otherwise it may delay the process of obtaining visa to enter India.

 

I could not find any guidlines to that requirement by India..

 

I wonder if the name change certificate issued by US would suffice?

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I could not find any guidlines to that requirement by India..

 

I wonder if the name change certificate issued by US would suffice?

Good point.

I have not seen the requirement on consulate of India website.

If you look at name change process as indian passport holder (green card or visa), they require newspaper advertisements in applicant's current local residence place + newspaper ads in Indian newspapers where the applicant may reside permanently.

after naturalization too, it makes sense to have this requirement. The person stayed at least a couple of decades of his\her life in India and later got USC by naturalization.

More so true if this person still will be visiting india as a visitor on a visa.

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Good point.

I have not seen the requirement on consulate of India website.

If you look at name change process as indian passport holder (green card or visa), they require newspaper advertisements in applicant's current local residence place + newspaper ads in Indian newspapers where the applicant may reside permanently.

after naturalization too, it makes sense to have this requirement. The person stayed at least a couple of decades of his\her life in India and later got USC by naturalization.

More so true if this person still will be visiting india as a visitor on a visa.

After naturalization, the person has no Indian passport anymore.

Other countries have no jurisdiction about the person, unless the person is still a citizen of the other country (e.g., with dual citizenship.)

It is completely irrelevant if the other person used to live in another country before he became a US citizen.

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simple fact...background check before issuing a visa..

 

DHS missed redflags of boston bomber's file due to a spelling mistake.. imagine if nobody cares about previous names at all?

Previous names a person had have to be listed on the N-400.

That's it.

If other countries want to have previous names listed on some visa application, the person can do that then.

Incompetent id*ots at DHS are not a valid reason.

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After naturalization, the person has no Indian passport anymore.

Other countries have no jurisdiction about the person, unless the person is still a citizen of the other country (e.g., with dual citizenship.)

It is completely irrelevant if the other person used to live in another country before he became a US citizen.

 

I can see that you are ignoring the fact that this person has plans to visit his old country and maintain ties..

 

and potentially own investments in india..and ofcourse, at this time, this person has to obey indian laws no irregardless of his current citizenship,esp he was a previous citizen..At that time india can simply ignore the US laws and force this guy to obey indian rituals for name change..

 

about other argument- case in point- david headley alias daewood gilani, half-american half-pakistani, travelled to europe and india with US pp with out disclosing his previous name and facilitated terrorist attacks in mumbai and denmark..

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So, there is a difference between laws on the book and practical interpretation of the same.

 

Anyway, it would be logical thing for a name changer to do this during naturalization process just to make sure everyone knows the name change. Not just people in the US but also people in the country of birth.

If you have nothing to hide and adopted a different name legally, publicize it.

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I can see that you are ignoring the fact that this person has plans to visit his old country and maintain ties..

 

and potentially own investments in india..and ofcourse, at this time, this person has to obey indian laws no irregardless of his current citizenship,esp he was a previous citizen..At that time india can simply ignore the US laws and force this guy to obey indian rituals for name change..

 

about other argument- case in point- david headley alias daewood gilani, half-american half-pakistani, travelled to europe and india with US pp with out disclosing his previous name and facilitated terrorist attacks in mumbai and denmark..

All irrelevant.

The court name change document shows that the person changed his or her name. Nothing else is needed, ever.

Period.

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Let me repeat this since some people don't seem to understand how this works:

There is absolutely nothing to change with some other country if the person is not a citizen of that country, even if the person was born there, and even if the person still has ties there.

If you wish to tell other countries about your name change, you are of course free to do so. You can shout it in all day if you like.

There is no legal requirement to do so, however.

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Let me repeat this since some people don't seem to understand how this works:

There is absolutely nothing to change with some other country if the person is not a citizen of that country, even if the person was born there, and even if the person still has ties there.

If you wish to tell other countries about your name change, you are of course free to do so. You can shout it in all day if you like.

There is no legal requirement to do so, however.

from the perspective of the US, sure there is no legal requirement. Let us not draw conclusion regarding requirements of the other country though.

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from the perspective of the US, sure there is no legal requirement. Let us not draw conclusion regarding requirements of the other country though.

There is NO requirement form any other country if the person is not a citizen of that country.

Period. End of story.

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from the perspective of the US, sure there is no legal requirement. Let us not draw conclusion regarding requirements of the other country though.

Are you really trying to say that if a person who is a citizen of one particular country changes his or her name, such person would have to notify all other countries in the world that his or her name has changed???

Because that is what you are implying.

If a person naturalized in the US loses the citizenship of another country in the process, there is absolutely no legal requirement to inform that other country (or any other country) of any name change.

That's all there is to it.

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There is NO requirement form any other country if the person is not a citizen of that country.

Period. End of story.

Not sure how you came to this conclusion. at least leave some room for such a requirement in your discussion.

So people who this person would interact will still try to find by name as citizen of native country and suddenly there is no trace of the person at all.

What is there is a lawsuit involving this person by old name in the country of birth?

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Are you really trying to say that if a person who is a citizen of one particular country changes his or her name, such person would have to notify all other countries in the world that his or her name has changed???

Because that is what you are implying.

If a person naturalized in the US loses the citizenship of another country in the process, there is absolutely no legal requirement to inform that other country (or any other country) of any name change.

That's all there is to it.

Please keep the discussion to the point at hand.

We are dealing with a native citizen of india about to naturalize to USC and want to change name.

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there is..especially if they want to sell-off property or claim family inheritance from India or if a naturalized US citizen wants to marry in india..

No, there isn't.

There is no difference than for any other person in the world.

The person would not be an Indian citizen anymore. Why would somebody who wants to marry have to declare any name change???

As for inheritance, the birth certificate stays valid, regardless of name change.

A person marries, the person's name changes, nothing has to be declared to some other country. Same with name change during naturalization.

Geez, don't make things complicated when they are simple.

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